Brunetorhynchus dubius, Schockaert, Ernest R., Martens, Paul M., Revis, Nathalie, Janssen, Toon, Willems, Wim & Artois, Tom J., 2014

Schockaert, Ernest R., Martens, Paul M., Revis, Nathalie, Janssen, Toon, Willems, Wim & Artois, Tom J., 2014, A new genus with six new species of Typhlopolycystidinae Evdonin, 1977 (Platyhelminthes, Kalyptorhynchia, Polycystididae), Zootaxa 3755 (3), pp. 259-272 : 269

Brunetorhynchus dubius n. sp. Artois & Schockaert

( Fig. 7 )

syn. Limipolycystis sp. in Artois & Schockaert (2000)

Locality. Galapagos Island Santa Cruz, Bahia Academy, southern beach (IX. 6 b) ( Artois & Schockaert 2000).

Material. Drawings and photographs of live animals by S. Hoxhold. Four serially-sectioned specimens in very bad condition. The micrograph in Fig. 7 B is designated holotype.

Etymology. Species epithet expresses the doubts of Artois & Schockaert (2000) that this species belongs to the taxon Limipolycystis .

Diagnosis. Species of Brunetorhynchus with a stylet 44–46 Μm long, ±7 Μm broad, ornamented with spiral ridges. It ends in a hook, which gives the stylet the overall shape of a boot.

Description. Artois & Schockaert (2000) based their description on drawings and micrographs of living animals by Hoxhold. They refrained from naming this species because a number of characters (or combinations of characters) did not fit those of the then known taxa within the Typhlopolycystidinae with a single stylet. This species has a pear-shaped seminal receptacle on the female duct as has Sabulirhynchus axi Artois & Schockaert, 2000 , but contrary to that taxon it has an accessory secretion reservoir that opens in the stylet. Species of Limipolycystis and of Myobulla have an accessory secretion reservoir, but the former species have a sclerotized tube on the female duct, and the species of Myobulla have a muscular bulb instead of a pear-shaped seminal receptacle. Also the position of the testis – behind the pharynx and not caudally – cast some doubt as to whether this species belonged to the taxon Limipolycystis . With the description of the new species here above, it is now clear that the Galapagos species shows all the characters of Brunetorhynchus . The micrographs of the stylet of B. dubius n. sp. also show a thickened rim at the proximal opening and a spiral ridge over the stylet. With the data now available, there seems to be no prostate vesicle Type III. B. dubius n. sp. is very small (0.2–0.25 mm) and without eyes (contrary to the other species of Brunetorhynchus ).

Figures

FIGURE 7. Brunetorhynchus dubius n. sp. (A, B) Drawing and micrograph of the stylet in a living animal. Both reproduced from Artois and Schockaert (2000). (scale bar = 25 µm)